I am thinking about time this week more than ever! I got a little ansty today because the rhythm of my days for the past week have been disrupted. I momentarily lost track of the meaning in my life and it happened at least once a day!
It is very easy to get distracted and to miss the meaning in our lives.
First, I was at parents weekend at my son’s school, then on to a basketball tournament in Boston, and then for the last two days I have been enjoying time with him because he got to visit home for the first time since August. I squeezed in things that popped up as “urgent” as best I could, but by today I was really paying attention to the uncomfortable feelings I had to keep aware of and working with.
I have mentioned this before- pausing is our best friend for so many reasons. Pausing to examine my “antsiness” I was able to locate the meaning in these days and recalibrate. When I was feeling stressed, ungrounded or unsettled, I stopped to breath and think about what it was that was at the bottom of it. What I realized is that most of the time the schedule was up on the air, not planned and I was waiting to find out what was happening next. This is just not my usual way of operating! When I paused I was able to celebrate the discomfort because I know it is good for me to get out of my groove.Once I realized what was causing my discomfort, I was able to shift gears.
The meaning, the really important thing that I kept coming back to was there is not much more important in my life than spending meaningful time with my kids. And here I had this gift of a bunch of time with my son. Remembering the important thing- the reason I was in the situation- made it easy to make sense of.”I can put up with this, because of this.”
We all react differently to things. Some things that bother me will mean nothing to you. How often do you stop to consider the meaning of your day, your moments? It is so easy to become distracted in the to do list, the uncertainty and have the meaningful days and moments fly right by. How do you notice meaning?
It is great to have a few tools in your tool box. Pausing to breathe and think in itself is a great tool. Like any other, the more you practice and use it, the more effective it will become. My other favorite tool for sorting out what is going on and locating the meaning is writing it out. I just start writing about what is happening and how I feel about it and before I know it I have sorted it out.
This week, stopping to think about how I was feeling, helped me to regain presence, time after time.Writing it out helped me to realize the true meaning in my day and what was important. I was able to enjoy the real reason I was doing what I was doing each day-having the gift of time with my son. Being that he’s 18 now, these times together in this way will not be duplicated. If I didn’t stop to treasure the time and focus on the meaning I would have missed it all.
And now my son has returned to school and I have the opportunity to get back on track. What I am taking away from this past week is that each time I follow a different schedule I have the opportunity to become more resilient and to grow. Whenever I grow ansty, I have the tools to get centered and remember what is really important. These are powerful things to experience.
Questions to ask yourself:
-What distracts you, causing you to lose sight of the reason, the meaning in what you are doing with your time?
-What are you spending time on that keeps you from what is really meaningful?
-How could you structure your time better to include what is most meaningful to you right now?
Remember, writing can also be a great way to document the meaningful happenings in your life!